Clinical Professor of Public Service, Co-Director of Capstone Program

John Gershman is a Clinical Professor of Public Service and the Director of International Capstone Programs at Wagner. He is also a co-founding member of the New York Southeast Asia Network. Previously he was the Director of the Global Affairs Program at the International Relations Center and the Co-Director of Foreign Policy in Focus, a progressive think tank on U.S. foreign policy and international affairs. He has worked at a series of nonprofit think tanks since the early 1990s, including the Institute for Food and Development Policy and Partners in Health. His research, writing, and advocacy work has focused on issues of food security, U.S. foreign policy in East and Southeast Asia, the politics of international financial institutions and multilateralism, the political economy of natural resource management in Ghana and the Philippines, the politics of sanitation, and rights-based approaches to development.

This course provides students with foundational analytical tools that facilitate their ability to understand the interactions among various interests, institutions, ideas and individuals in the policy-making process. It prepares students to disentangle the dynamics of power and politics throughout the policy process at three distinct levels: at the national level in the U.S. and other OECD countries, in the "developing" country context, and at the transnational level. We examine the dynamics of agenda-setting, framing, the role of analysis and evidence in the policy process and the rise of "evidence-based" policy; the role of deliberation and transparency; insights from behavioral economics and social psychology on regulation and incentives; how social movements and advocacy organizations influence the policy process; the role of street-level bureaucrats; and the relationship between evaluation, learning, and policy change. The emphasis throughout is on mixing the development of conceptual and analytical tools with diverse, context-rich case studies and classroom exercises aimed at developing a real world proficiency in policy analysis.

This course exposes students to contemporary thinking about institutions, governance and the reinvention of the public sector. We focus on specific reforms intended to improve government performance and promote good governance as rapid economic, political and social changes-both global and local-- evolve in different countries at various stages of development. Major topics include establishing and enhancing rule of law, property rights, and regulatory regimes; developing more effective organizational structures, civil service systems and anti-corruption mechanisms; and creating and enhancing frameworks and policies for public sector fiscal management, decentralization, public-private partnership and citizen engagement. As we work through the topics, we consider competing theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence. An underlying theme is the need to go beyond the mainstream tendency to use pre-packaged tools and narrow frameworks in pursuit of single "right" answers. Rather, the course uses diverse case material to challenges students to use rigorous and creative analysis to seek levers of change that matter and are feasible in particular contexts.

Introduction to Public Policy covers a wide range of topics, from the norms and values informing democratic policymaking to the basics of cost-benefit and other tools of policy analysis. Though emphases will differ based on instructor strengths, all sections will address the institutional arrangements for making public policy decisions, the role of various actors-including nonprofit and private-sector professionals-in shaping policy outcomes, and the fundamentals (and limits) of analytic approaches to public policy.

Note: Students who have not taken an American Government course, or have not taken the course in many years, are strongly encouraged to brush up on knowledge of the basic design and functions of the governmental units in the United States.

This course provides students with a rich sense of the institutional and political context within which policy is made and implemented. The course aims to give students exposure to important ongoing debates in international development and their historical context. The class will provide an overview of some of the major contemporary analytical and policy debates regarding the politics of development. Topics to be covered are: States, Regimes and Industrialization; Politics of Poverty, Growth and Policy Reform; Governance, Civil Society and Development; and The Politics of Development in the Age of Globalization.

Introduction to Public Policy covers a wide range of topics, from the norms and values informing democratic policymaking to the basics of cost-benefit and other tools of policy analysis. Though emphases will differ based on instructor strengths, all sections will address the institutional arrangements for making public policy decisions, the role of various actors-including nonprofit and private-sector professionals-in shaping policy outcomes, and the fundamentals (and limits) of analytic approaches to public policy.

Note: Students who have not taken an American Government course, or have not taken the course in many years, are strongly encouraged to brush up on knowledge of the basic design and functions of the governmental units in the United States.

International development assistance has evolved considerably in the post WWII period. Although some of the initial development agencies are still operating and remain influential, the way they function has evolved and important new players have entered the field. This course provides an overview of contemporary debates in international development assistance with a detailed review of the major actors - multilateral, bilateral, and nongovernmental. The course explores the political economy of donor-client country relationships, the key accountability challenges that have emerged, and the link between accountability and aid effectiveness. Particular emphasis is given to recent approaches to development assistance that have attempted to bridge the accountability-effectiveness divide. The course closes with consideration of the likely and possible future of development assistance.

Note: This half course meets in New York only (see PADM-GP 2250 for the version of this course that meets in New York and Ghana).

This course explores the political and economic policy issues surrounding hunger and food security, drawing on many case examples and using Ghana as a case study. The course will provide an overview of some of the core dimensions of global hunger and food security policy issues, including debates over a new green revolution, food aid, fair trade, the impact of expanded biofuels production and the impact of the inter-related financial, food, and fuel crises.

This course provides students with a rich sense of the institutional and political context within which policy is made and implemented. The course aims to give students exposure to important ongoing debates in international development and their historical context. The class will provide an overview of some of the major contemporary analytical and policy debates regarding the politics of development. Topics to be covered are: States, Regimes and Industrialization; Politics of Poverty, Growth and Policy Reform; Governance, Civil Society and Development; and The Politics of Development in the Age of Globalization.

This course provides students with foundational analytical tools that facilitate their ability to understand the interactions among various interests, institutions, ideas and individuals in the policy-making process. It prepares students to disentangle the dynamics of power and politics throughout the policy process at three distinct levels: at the national level in the U.S. and other OECD countries, in the "developing" country context, and at the transnational level. We examine the dynamics of agenda-setting, framing, the role of analysis and evidence in the policy process and the rise of "evidence-based" policy; the role of deliberation and transparency; insights from behavioral economics and social psychology on regulation and incentives; how social movements and advocacy organizations influence the policy process; the role of street-level bureaucrats; and the relationship between evaluation, learning, and policy change. The emphasis throughout is on mixing the development of conceptual and analytical tools with diverse, context-rich case studies and classroom exercises aimed at developing a real world proficiency in policy analysis.

This course exposes students to contemporary thinking about institutions, governance and the reinvention of the public sector. We focus on specific reforms intended to improve government performance and promote good governance as rapid economic, political and social changes-both global and local-- evolve in different countries at various stages of development. Major topics include establishing and enhancing rule of law, property rights, and regulatory regimes; developing more effective organizational structures, civil service systems and anti-corruption mechanisms; and creating and enhancing frameworks and policies for public sector fiscal management, decentralization, public-private partnership and citizen engagement. As we work through the topics, we consider competing theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence. An underlying theme is the need to go beyond the mainstream tendency to use pre-packaged tools and narrow frameworks in pursuit of single "right" answers. Rather, the course uses diverse case material to challenges students to use rigorous and creative analysis to seek levers of change that matter and are feasible in particular contexts.

This course explores the political and economic policy issues surrounding hunger and food security, drawing on many case examples and using Ghana as a case study. The course will provide an overview of some of the core dimensions of global hunger and food security policy issues, including debates over a new green revolution, food aid, fair trade, the impact of expanded biofuels production and the impact of the inter-related financial, food, and fuel crises. The class will incorporate visits to sites in Ghana and discussions with NGOs and other organizations involved in various efforts to enhance food security.
This course requires pre-departure lectures in New York in late May and early June. Check Albert for dates and times.

Note: This half course meets in New York only (see PADM-GP 2250 for the version of this course that meets in New York and Ghana).

This course explores the political and economic policy issues surrounding hunger and food security, drawing on many case examples and using Ghana as a case study. The course will provide an overview of some of the core dimensions of global hunger and food security policy issues, including debates over a new green revolution, food aid, fair trade, the impact of expanded biofuels production and the impact of the inter-related financial, food, and fuel crises.

This course provides students with a rich sense of the institutional and political context within which policy is made and implemented. The course aims to give students exposure to important ongoing debates in international development and their historical context. The class will provide an overview of some of the major contemporary analytical and policy debates regarding the politics of development. Topics to be covered are: States, Regimes and Industrialization; Politics of Poverty, Growth and Policy Reform; Governance, Civil Society and Development; and The Politics of Development in the Age of Globalization.

As part of the core curriculum of the NYU Wagner Masters program, Capstone teams spend an academic year addressing challenges and identifying opportunities for a client organization or conducting research on a pressing social question. Wagner's Capstone program provides students with a centerpiece of their graduate experience whereby they are able to experience first-hand turning the theory of their studies into practice under the guidance of an experienced faculty member. Projects require students to get up-to-speed quickly on a specific content or issue area; enhance key process skills including project management and teamwork; and develop competency in gathering, analyzing, and reporting out on data. Capstone requires students to interweave their learning in all these areas, and to do so in real time, in an unpredictable, complex, real-world environment.

International development assistance has evolved considerably in the post WWII period. Although some of the initial development agencies are still operating and remain influential, the way they function has evolved and important new players have entered the field. This course provides an overview of contemporary debates in international development assistance with a detailed review of the major actors - multilateral, bilateral, and nongovernmental. The course explores the political economy of donor-client country relationships, the key accountability challenges that have emerged, and the link between accountability and aid effectiveness. Particular emphasis is given to recent approaches to development assistance that have attempted to bridge the accountability-effectiveness divide. The course closes with consideration of the likely and possible future of development assistance.

This course introduces the theory and practice of institutional reform in developing and transitional countries. It reviews the evolution of international development paradigms, examining how the role, structure, and management of institutions, the public sector, and non-governmental organizations have changed in response to shifting economic and political trends, with a particular emphasis on accountability. The focus is on major institutional and managerial reforms intended to promote good governance as less developed economies liberalize and their societies democratize. Key topics include issues of property rights, knowledge and innovation, learning, the rule of law, decentralization/intergovernmental relations, civil service reforms, anticorruption, citizen engagement, and public-private partnerships. In addition, the roles of international development aid and the external institutions that support institutional and managerial reform in developing and transitional countries are introduced. The course concludes with a synthetic review and a comparative case study exercise.

Note: This half course meets in New York only (see PADM-GP 2250 for the version of this course that meets in New York and Ghana).

This course explores the political and economic policy issues surrounding hunger and food security, drawing on many case examples and using Ghana as a case study. The course will provide an overview of some of the core dimensions of global hunger and food security policy issues, including debates over a new green revolution, food aid, fair trade, the impact of expanded biofuels production and the impact of the inter-related financial, food, and fuel crises.

This course will explore a selected set of the most intensely debated topics in food politics/policy as currently practiced in the United States. This is not meant to be a comprehensive study of food systems or even of food policy; other Wagner and NYU courses provide such an overview. Instead we will investigate in depth several specific policy debates, reviewing the problem, currently-proposed solutions, and the complex politics of policymaking in a separated-powers system.

We will pay particular attention to key institutional actors throughout: these include the influence of lobbying groups (industry and advocacy/nonprofit); the interplay of federal departments and agencies (USDA, HHS, FDA, Executive Office of the President); the politics of food in the U.S. Congress and judiciary; as well as the role of academic and think-tank experts in shaping political outcomes.

This course provides students with a rich sense of the institutional and political context within which policy is made and implemented. The course aims to give students exposure to important ongoing debates in international development and their historical context. The class will provide an overview of some of the major contemporary analytical and policy debates regarding the politics of development. Topics to be covered are: States, Regimes and Industrialization; Politics of Poverty, Growth and Policy Reform; Governance, Civil Society and Development; and The Politics of Development in the Age of Globalization.

As part of the core curriculum of the NYU Wagner Masters program, Capstone teams spend an academic year addressing challenges and identifying opportunities for a client organization or conducting research on a pressing social question. Wagner's Capstone program provides students with a centerpiece of their graduate experience whereby they are able to experience first-hand turning the theory of their studies into practice under the guidance of an experienced faculty member. Projects require students to get up-to-speed quickly on a specific content or issue area; enhance key process skills including project management and teamwork; and develop competency in gathering, analyzing, and reporting out on data. Capstone requires students to interweave their learning in all these areas, and to do so in real time, in an unpredictable, complex, real-world environment.

This course explores the political and economic policy issues surrounding hunger and food security, drawing on many case examples and using Ghana as a case study. The course will provide an overview of some of the core dimensions of global hunger and food security policy issues, including debates over a new green revolution, food aid, fair trade, the impact of expanded biofuels production and the impact of the inter-related financial, food, and fuel crises. The class will incorporate visits to sites in Ghana and discussions with NGOs and other organizations involved in various efforts to enhance food security.
This course requires pre-departure lectures in New York in late May and early June. Check Albert for dates and times.

This course will explore a selected set of the most intensely debated topics in food politics/policy as currently practiced in the United States. This is not meant to be a comprehensive study of food systems or even of food policy; other Wagner and NYU courses provide such an overview. Instead we will investigate in depth several specific policy debates, reviewing the problem, currently-proposed solutions, and the complex politics of policymaking in a separated-powers system.

We will pay particular attention to key institutional actors throughout: these include the influence of lobbying groups (industry and advocacy/nonprofit); the interplay of federal departments and agencies (USDA, HHS, FDA, Executive Office of the President); the politics of food in the U.S. Congress and judiciary; as well as the role of academic and think-tank experts in shaping political outcomes.

This course provides students with a rich sense of the institutional and political context within which policy is made and implemented. The course aims to give students exposure to important ongoing debates in international development and their historical context. The class will provide an overview of some of the major contemporary analytical and policy debates regarding the politics of development. Topics to be covered are: States, Regimes and Industrialization; Politics of Poverty, Growth and Policy Reform; Governance, Civil Society and Development; and The Politics of Development in the Age of Globalization.

Muhammad Yunus, the microcredit pioneer, has proposed that access to credit should be a human right. We approach the question by drawing on fieldwork and empirical scholarship in political science and economics. Evidence shows that access to credit may be powerful for some people some of the time, but it is not powerful for everyone all of the time, and in some cases it can do damage. Yunus’s claim for the power of credit access has yet to be widely verified, and most rigorous studies find microcredit impacts that fall far short of the kinds of empirical assertions on which his proposal rests. We discuss ways that expanding the domain of rights can diminish the power of existing rights, and we argue for a right to non-discrimination in credit access, rather than a right to credit access itself.

2011

Is credit a human right? Muhammad Yunus, the most visible leader of a global movement to provide microcredit to world’s poor, says it should be. NYU’s John Gershman and FAI’s Jonathan Morduch disagree. In their new paper, Credit is Not a Right, they ask whether a rights-based approach to microcredit will in fact be effective in making quality, affordable credit more available to poor families – and, more importantly, whether it is a constructive step in terms of the broader goal of global poverty reduction. Jonathan Morduch argues his case in this video.

2004

The Bush administration’s “war on terrorism” reflects a major failure of leadership and makes Americans more vulnerable rather than more secure. The administration has chosen a path to combat terrorism that has weakened multilateral institutions and squandered international goodwill. Not only has Bush failed to support effective reconstruction in Afghanistan, but his war and occupation in Iraq have made the United States more vulnerable and have opened a new front and a recruiting tool for terrorists while diverting resources from essential homeland security efforts. In short, Washington’s approach to homeland security fails to address key vulnerabilities, undermines civil liberties, and misallocates resources. The administration has taken some successful steps to counter terrorism, such as improved airline and border security, a partial crackdown on terrorist financing, improved international cooperation in sharing intelligence, the arrest of several high-level al-Qaida figures, and the disruption of a number of planned attacks. But these successes are overwhelmed by policy choices that have made U.S. citizens more rather than less vulnerable. The Bush White House has undermined the very values it claims to be defending at home and abroad—democracy and human rights; both Washington’s credibility and its efforts to combat terrorism are hampered when it aids repressive regimes. Furthermore, the administration has weakened the international legal framework essential to creating a global effort to counter terrorism, and it has failed to address the political contexts—failed states and repressive regimes—that enable and facilitate terrorism.

2002

With U.S. troops on the ground in the Philippines and closer military ties developing to other countries in the region, Washington is taking the war on terror to Southeast Asia. But a military approach to the region's problems would be a deadly mistake: it could weaken local democracies and turn neutral forces into new enemies.

2000

Compares rural development projects funded by the World Bank in the Philippines and Mexico. Impact of the World Bank on social capital; Indicators of institutional preconditions for informed public participation; Ethnic and gender dimensions of social capital.